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Alan Booth 1953-55

February 25, 2016

Freddie had a decko at the pictures of the regt in Osnabruck in the 50's ,it could have been my generation of soldiers from the 70's ,same blocks more or less the same uniforms only they had Cents,half track,Churchill Dutch panzers and the Bren carrier ,too much to work on thinking of that monster wreck Chieftain. Yep I had a mate from Detmold Ron Hazard who told of his days there as a national service soldier , as they say the rich tapestry of life/soldiering ,must be the same for serving soldiers today looking at our day in service ,got to record as those days of friends/service are now long gone

Alan Booth 1953-55

February 25, 2016

I served in Osnabruck from 1955 to 1957. When I returned in 1973, the barracks had hardly changed apart from having been spruced up.
We had Mk3 Cents, M10s, White Scout Cars, Bren Carriers (in Recce Tp) and Willis Jeeps. We were the Divisional Anti Tk Regiment for 6th Armoured Div. The tanks had 20 pounders, 7.62 Besa Mgs and 2" Mortars mounted in the operator's episcope mounting. All the tank drivers had revolvers mostly 38 Weblies. Everyone else was armed with the 9mm Sten. Our webbing was 1938 pattern.. we had to Polish it with Kiwi black (it may have seemed easy to keep clean,but with all the brasses, it was quite a serious chore ) FSMO (FULL SERVICE MARCHING ORDER) Seemed to take forever. For Guards we had to wear full skeleton order. In winter with Greatcoats.
Bull skit was the order of the day , (both personal and vehicular). Annual Admin day took weeks of preparation. It seems hard compared with the modern forms of dress and equipment, but we managed and looking back. We really enjoyed it.

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